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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Los Zetas sponser Children's Day parties in Tamaulipas

The Mexican drug gang known as the Zetas, who stand accused of beating scores of people to death in Tamaulipas and then dumping their bodies in mass graves, are apparently attempting to improve their image by funding parties for local children.

Every April 30, Mexico celebrates “Children’s Day,” which celebrates the importance of children and promotes their well-being. In Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, the mayor’s office had planned to mark the day with a special event at the city’s fairground, featuring carnival rides and a visit from the state’s governor.

Oddly, in the weeks leading up to the event the city’s residents started noticing a series of mysterious banners, all of them advertising another, decidedly more lavish fair than the state-sponsored one. According to El Blog del Narco, the banners promised a fun-filled event complete with raffles and presents, that would be free for all attendees.

Although the origins of the banners were unclear, witnesses claimed that they were hung by soldiers, so many assumed that the event was planned by the military. However, when anonymous and fake user accounts began to promote the event via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, doubts about the organizers grew.

These suspicions were confirmed on the day of the fair itself, when a group of men dressed in all black hung a banner on the site which announced that it had been paid for by none other than Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, alias "Z-3," a Zetas leader. The banner, which is pictured below, said the following:

BUYING YOUR CHILDREN EXPENSIVE TOYS AND PROVIDING THEM COMFORT AND LUXURY IS NOT ENOUGH. WHAT MATTERS MOST IS THAT YOU GIVE THEM ALL YOUR ATTENTION, UNDERSTANDING, LOVE AND SUPPORT WHEN THEY NEED IT MOST. WE HOPE YOU HAVE ALL HAD AN UNFORGETTABLE DAY, WHICH TO US IS VERY IMPORTANT.FROM HERIBERTO LAZCANO LAZCANO- THE Z COMPANY

According to the Diario de Ciudad Victoria, two other similar functions took place in separate towns in the nearby municipality of Hidalgo. Blog del Narco alleges that these events were also paid for by the Zetas, but there seems to be no concrete evidence to support this.

Still, this would not be the first time that the Zetas have organized a series of such events. As El Universal reported in 2008, when the Zetas were still allied with the Gulf Cartel, the group threw several Children’s Day celebrations in Coahuila complete with banners, ponies, clowns, food and music. The fair was allegedly ordered by one-time Gulf Cartel head Osiel Carlos Guillen while he was still in prison, in an attempt to spark a domestic outcry against his extradition to the United States.

Although it may seem ridiculous for a brutal criminal enterprise to spend money on carnivals, such actions represent an investment for the Zetas. Recently, their public image was seriously damaged by the 279 bodies found in a cluster of mass graves in Tamaulipas state. Mexican police have arrested members of a local Zetas outfit in connection with the murders, and have since announced that many of the victims were bludgeoned to death with sledge hammers.

Because of this, a strong sense of fear pervades the state, and many who were once ambivalent about the drug trafficking organization have likely been convinced to turn against it by the alleged acts of savage violence. By throwing free parties for local families, the Zetas are doubtlessly attempting to divert attention from the graves, and build up some positive press coverage. Ultimately, however, it may take more than a few parties to win back public support for the Zetas in Tamaulipas. As InSight has reported, more than 1,500 people have been killed in drug-related murders in the state since 2006, making it one of the top ten bloodiest parts of Mexico.

31 comments:

Good Story Overmex, quick correction tho, this is actually wrong: "Although the origins of the banners were unclear, witnesses claimed that they were hung by soldiers, so many assumed that the event was planned by the military." I believe you translated it wrong because in the original article it says:

I can't take credit for the story, it was translated and written by In Sight..

I can and do, however, take blame for not catching the error. I gave a quick read to the original article, checked the links, confirmed what I could, and even reread the link on the youtube video..and still I overlooked the error/

Hard to say how I feel about this, on one hand I can't condemn children getting toys and other things, but the same money that bought the toys is from (mainly) the exploitation of the same working class and poor people. I can't in good conscience say anything negative about families who take handouts from Zetas, or anyone else, however, they should take it for what it is, and not believe the bullshit they are campaigning about.

Hey wait a minute. These zetas are really nice folks. They are so nice to throw parites for the children of the people that they sliced apart alive. So they skinned people alive and mutilated then and caused horendous suffering, but i don't think that they meant it. Really. Look at them. They really are the kind of people that you'd want your kids to party with.A GOOD ZETA IS A DEAD ZETA- THEY ARE THE DEVILS CHILDREN!!

Mexico has got to be the most PERVERTED society anywhere today. Reminds you of the old Mafia in early New York. Just like the Mafia, Narco gangs will exist in Mexico until the people and state,have had enough.Until then lets all go to the Zeta sponsored Soccer game,YOU KNOW THEY ARE ACTUALLY REALLY NICE CARING PEOPLE ??

I have to disagree with you. I DO blame people for attending and taking this blood money. We must teach our children the value of things and the proper morals. It is NOT ok to benefit from blood money in any way.

Taking gifts or food or being entertained by cartel money blurs the lines between good and bad and glamorizes the cartels.

I'm not going to crucify poverty stricken people for getting things for their children, toys, money, whatever the case. It's easy for me, (us) to have these lofty moral ideas about right and wrong, and wax philosophical from our nice neighborhoods, where we can walk around, and go to the club and bar and never worry about gunmen walking inside and executing patrons. These people, often live in conditions that we would not believe, and esp. now.

I agree with you about teaching our kids to value the right kind of people and things and that they have to be taught right from wrong when the lines are so blurred for them in this situation.

And the 'Z Company' know its hard to keep kids away when the 'circus' is in town. It's a moment of truce before the brutality starts again. How do you explain to your son or daughter that the same men who kidnapped and murdered their father are throwing a party in their honor??

I think the story states that it was not announced until the end of the event, that this was a Z sponsored event....either way, the government benefits from blood money AND still do NOTHING for the people, so...well it is difficult not to take freebies when you are economically disadvantaged, so only those who are, know what is like to have a chance to benefit from something that would appear as fomenting this problem, to others who have not suffered the day to day lack of daily necessities...

Does anyone know how to read?? They didn't announce it was a Zeta sponsored party until the end of the party.Lazcano played it smart, he sent the banners as anonymous and then announced that the party was sponsored by the Zetas at the end of la fiesta so the people wouldn't know and be scared...people are not dumb they sure as hell wouldn't of gone if they knew before hand it was los Zetas doing this jajaja why do you think Lazcano initially had to do it as anonymous jajajaja

You should read a little more about the world before you go on saying Mexico has got to be the most PERVERTED society anywhere today.

I was wondering if they copy this from the Hell's Angels, I remember when the Hell's Angels will give toys to children they will buy the toys with money from their hard work. I also remember reading about the U.S military back in 18 hundreds when they used to feed the starving Indians, they will get them all together and then they will shoot them up.This is nothing new, is just a bunch of two face people trying to do something good to clean their image, but no matter what they do history will not change what it was done.

bullshit zeta propaganda anyone with half a brain knows to be a Z is the lowest of the low. Lazcano wants to pretend he does good for the people. even other cartels think zetas are shit. that says it all.

Nothing suprising, there has been the Zeta church, LFM providing various services and whatnot. This is just a way for the cartels to show how weak the state is and possibly make people forget about their crimes for a moment.

Question, what interests me the most how come there isn't more pictures of heriberto lazcano? And how come they never mention his name, most of his background, where he could be hiding and are they after him? What's his security like? Is he constantly on the move? He's one big fish and leader that we barely hear of unless it has to do with this type of things like throwing parties, making churches and monuments that's been paid for by him, he seems like such a mystery figure..

To tag on to that last comment.....how would you bastards like your young, beautiful daughter working as a prostitute because the $60 a week working for the U.S. factory isn't enough to feed her kids. Her macho ass husband left her for many more women and she is now faced with no hope whatsoever in life, only abject despair. Now she's afraid of taking the bus because some scum of the earth pricks are kidnapping and killing passengers. Go try living under those conditions you pampered ass self righteous idiots.

I'm afraid that this article tells us much more about the authors of the article and the elite US think tanks that sponsored writing it than it actually does about the Zetas.

Know who sponsors your US government pro-war disinformation and you do get an education from it...

http://www.insightcrime.org/about-us

Don't think some about where the dope is coming from and you will stay ignorant. This so-called 'Open Society Foundation behind the so-called 'In Sight' oranization's article is George Soros's billions of dollars.

no mamen!! this is just dumb af! people are seeing what los zetas are doing and have beein doing to people over the last 4 years and then they STILL go and be part of these stupid as$ parties i mean common how stupid can people get? los zetas are ENEMIES killing, hurtin, robbin, kidnapping ANYBODY and EVERYBODY. a good zeta is a dead zeta. they want to try and appear like they are good and its the other cartels doing the bad stuff NO dont let them fool you! ZETAS ARE KILLERS, ALL OF THEM dont fall fot these idiots they are not changing nor becoming better people NO!

12:25 are you plain stupid really? the reason why the violence has gone up is because the US has been selling the guns to cartels in mexico!! that would only mean more killings because even if ppl in mexico were trained they would ride out in little groups. Los zetas ride out in at least 5 cars with 5 guys each please just keep your stupid comments to yourself.

Its simple. You don't fuck with them they don't fuck with you. All the people that get killed, mutilated and shit is because they did something, said something, if even one family member is involved with them in any way it ends up being that you're whole family is screwed even though they didn't know or had shit to do with it. Thats how it is. Tough nuts. And I dont just say for the hell of it, i say it because i know, i have been around that shit since i was little. i grew up around all of it. So don't just say shit if you don't know exactly whats up. yea for all the people on the outside that don't know what actually goes on inside of all this its easy just to say shit. And I can say for a fact that all the narcos do more for their pueblos and shit then the own fucking government.